Steroid-era stars Bonds, Clemens, Sosa on Hall of Fame ballot

November 29, 2012

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa, three of the biggest names of baseball’s steroids era, all of whom were tainted by accusations that they used performance-enhancing drugs, appear for the first time this year on the Hall of Fame ballot, which was released Wednesday. Members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, who vote on the candidates, will have to decide if they want to weigh the suspected doping against the players’ on-field accomplishments, and if so, by how much. The task will be a big one with these three players: Bonds is the all-time home run champion and won a record seven MVP awards; Clemens won a record seven Cy Young awards and is ninth on the all-time wins list; and Sosa ranks eighth in career home runs. Still, recent history isn’t a good omen for them, asMark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro haven’t been voted in despite having Hall of Fame-caliber playing records because of the doping questions surrounding them. Voting results will be announced in January.